Zechariah 8:6

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Again the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying: ²This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "I am jealous for Zion with great zeal; I am jealous for her with great fervor." ³This is what the LORD says: "I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain." ⁴This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age. ⁵And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there." ⁶This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in My eyes?" declares the LORD of Hosts.⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "I will save My people from the land of the east and the land of the west. ⁸I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

marvellous: or, hard, or difficult

should: Genesis 18:14, Numbers 11:22, Numbers 11:23, 2 Kings 7:2, Jeremiah 32:17, Jeremiah 32:27, Luke 1:20, Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27, Romans 4:20, Romans 4:21, Romans 6:19-21

Reciprocal: Ezra 9:8 - a remnant Ecclesiastes 5:8 - marvel Zechariah 8:12 - the remnant Matthew 19:26 - but Mark 10:27 - With men Luke 9:43 - amazed

Cross-References

Genesis 6:16
You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

Daniel 6:10
Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... This is repeated for the same end as before; :-:

If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days; either in the then present days and time; and the sense is, if it should seem wonderful, incredible, and scarcely possible to the small number of the Jews in Judea, that all the great and good things before promised should be fulfilled; or in the times of the Gospel, when the remnant, according to the election of grace, would wonder at the marvellous loving kindness of the Lord, in doing each great things for his church and people:

should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts; no, not as if it was impossible to be done; it shall be done, as marvellous as it may seem to be. Aben Ezra understands these words, not as spoken by way of interrogation and admiration, but as an affirmation; that God would do that which was marvellous, and such as he had never done the like, even as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If it should be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those - (not these) days, shall it be marvelous in Mine eyes also? saith the Lord of hosts Man’s anticipations, by reason of his imperfections and the chequered character of earthly things, are always disappointing. God’s doings, by reason of His infinite greatness and goodness, are always beyond our anticipations, past all belief. It is their very greatness which staggers us. It is not then merely that the temporal promises seemed “too good to be true” (in our words) (Jerome), “in the eyes of the people who had come from the captivity, seeing that the city almost desolate, the ruins of the city-walls, the charred houses showed the doings of the Babylonians.” It is in the day of the fulfillment, not of the anticipation, that they would seem marvelous in their eyes, as the Psalmist says, “This is the Lord’s doing: and it is marvelous in our eyes” .

The temporal blessings which God would give were not so incredible. They were but the ordinary gifts of His Providence: they involved no change in their outward relations. His people were still to remain under their Persian masters, until their time too should come. It was matter of gladness and of God’s Providence, that the walls of Jerusalem should be rebuilt: but not so marvelous, when it came to pass. The mysteries of the Gospel are a marvel even to the blessed angels. That fulfillment being yet future, so the people, in whose eyes that fulfillment should be marvelous, were future also. And this was to be a remnant still. It does not say, “this people which is a remnant,” nor “this remnant of the people,” that is, those who remained over out of the people who went into captivity, or this remnant, but “the remnant of this people,” that is, those who should remain over of it, that is, of the people who were returned. It is the remnant of the larger whole, this people (see at Amos 1:8, vol. i. p. 247, n. 28, and on Haggai 1:12, p. 305). It is still “the remnant according to the election of grace;” that election which obtained what all Israel sought, but, seeking wrongly, were blinded Romans 11:5-7.

Shall it be marvelous in Mine eyes also? - It is an indirect question in the way of exclamation . “It be marvelous in Mine eyes also,” rejecting the thought, as alien from the nature of God, to whom “all things are possible, yea, what with men is impossible” Matthew 19:26. As God says to Jeremiah, “Behold, I am, the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27. “For with God nothing shall be impossible” Luke 1:37. “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” Luke 18:27. “For with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27 Cyril: “For He is the Lord of all powers, fulfilling by His will what exceedingly surpasseth nature, and efecting at once what seemeth Him good. The mystery of the Incarnation passeth all marvel and discourse, and no less the benefits redounding to us. For how is it not next to incredible, that the Word, Begotten of God, should be united with the flesh and be in the form of a servant, and endure the Cross and the insults and outrages of the Jews? Or how should one not admire above measure the issue of the dispensation, whereby sin was destroyed, death abolished, corruption expelled, and man, once a recreant slave, became resplendent with the grace of an adopted son?”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 8:6. If it be marvellous — You may think that this is impossible, considering your present low condition: but suppose it be impossible in your eyes, should it be so in mine! saith the Lord of hosts.